Vanuatu — Laplap
Effort one of my “random country’s national dish experience” has led me to Vanuatu. From the offset I shall admit that I knew nothing about this country other than that it is in the South Pacific, but that’s why I’m doing this. Literally seconds of research pointed me in the direction of something called Laplap. This, I’m unreliably informed, is the national dish of Vanuatu.
Traditional recipes tend, inevitably, to differ somewhat but I’ve narrowed the general idea to the following. Essentially this is a dish of grated or pulped local root vegetables and plantain or banana layered with coconut milk, wrapped in banana leaf and then baked in an underground hot-stone oven. Laplap appears to be served as a vegetable accompaniment or made more hearty with the addition of meat (usually chicken) to the parcel. Final results seem to look like anything from a moist cake to a coconut stew.
So, with that small amount of information I came up with the following.
My thought process behind this dish was inspired by one particular video where a preference for plain and sweet laplap was mentioned. This, I thought, would be a good option for my own anglicised brunch version.
Ingredients
Cassava x 2, Sweet Potato x 1, Coconut Milk x 400ml, Caster Sugar x 100g, Banana x 2, Mango x 1, Icing Sugar, Zest and Juice of 1 lime, Thyme
Method
- Peel and grate Cassava & Sweet Potato
- Line baking tray with greaseproof paper
- Layer Coconut milk thinly, sprinkle sugar, add grated vegetable mixture about 2cm deep
- Repeat twice
- Top with coconut milk
- Mash bananas and layer
- Dice Mango and add
- Sprinkle with sugar and lime zest
- Enclose with greaseproof paper
- Bake at 190 Celcius for 45 mins
- Sprinkle more sugar and picked thyme
- Return to oven uncovered for 10 mins
- Squeeze juice of one lime over and dust with icing sugar
- Serve!!
So, how did this go? The main things I’ve taken from this are the use of grated root vegetables in sweets dishes. This I will definitely be trying again. I’m not sure the stewing style of cooking brought out enough sweetness in the vegetables. Roasting them for a long time may have. Cassava is a new vegetable to me and has an interesting, and quite different, nutty flavour. I can see this being used in a similar way to swede or turnips.
I’d rate this dish as okay, however, in terms of interest and lessons provided it has been a real eye opener and exactly what I’m hoping to gain from this. I think the sweet brunch idea has some legs and with a few tweaks this could be super delicious. A savoury version would certainly be lovely with salt replacing the sugar and maybe some spices into the coconut milk, this topped with chicken or pork would be great.
Anyway, that’s Vanuatu dealt with in some manner, let’s see where’s next!
